Quote Originally Posted by OmegaNovaios View Post
Actually some Chinese used to use Scythe like weapons until they combined it with the Spear to create the "Ji" (Chinese Halberd) which was superior to both the Scythe and the Spear.
First off, the Ji isn't a "scythe-like weapon"; it's a halberd, which, depending upon construction and era, combines the function of a spear (pointy end) with an axe (wide slashing blade) and/or hook (for shields and mounted opponents), not a scythe. Secondly, saying that something is "superior to the scythe" is like saying that it's "better than a garbage truck" for racing: neither the scythe nor the garbage truck are even remotely designed for the purpose in which you're attempting to use them for.

If you want to argue that a weapon shouldn't be used in a fictional game (where practicality doesn't hold any weight over appeal) despite having skill to wield a weapon effectively over the potential of a weapon itself then technically a DRG should try to focus only on halberds since the spear and lance are inferior as well.
There's a vast difference between "inferior" and "worthless". A spear *is* inferior in basic design compared to any of the many more elaborate polearms (they were popular in medieval warfare because they were cheap, which is an advantage in large scale combat but not so much in small group tactical combat), but that doesn't mean that it's worthless. A scythe, however, *is* worthless as a weapon: it is more expensive to manufacture than a spear and is actually worse for combat than a spear.

I'll admit FFXI made some terrible decisions, but there are also a LOT of good decision that were made in the development of the game.
"Good game design" and "success" are nowhere near strongly linked. Some of the most effective game franchises in the world are built upon terrible game design. FFXI was successful because it was released at a relatively early part of the MMO epoch with a very powerful series backing it up (much like how Galaxies and TOR both had the SW name backing them up and WoW had Warcraft; people were already familiar with the universe/world/lore and had a preexisting emotional/mental connection to it). The second allowed them to attract a large player base right off the bat, and the first allowed them to keep those players around long enough to form a long term relationship with them (there's a certain threshold where, once a player has been subscribed for a given period of time, there is a negligible drop off in subscriptions, barring catastrophe or halted updates).

FFXI's success is less a testament to the quality of the game and more a testament to the loyalty that people have to the FF series (and their chosen game after becoming emotionally invested in it). Everquest was *incredibly* successful, but I doubt you'd see a lot of people discussing all of the amazing game design choices they made.